Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-04-23
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.
The Movement that Broke the Backbon'


Destruction of Atlanta. Through the
Heart of South Carolina.
We are now to describe the most
original and most dazzling movement,
of the war, Of which history contains
no similar example. except that of Cor
tcz burning his ships. 1t was a bold
and hazardous undertaking in which
no backward step was possible. Hoods
audacious attempt to lure Sherman out
Of Georgia resulted, as we have seen,
in his own destruction. He had thrown
himself on the Union Generals COM
munications and caused him to turn for
an instant, but for scarce a longer time.
He had taken several of the posts along
that line, but had been repulsed from
Altoona Pass by the brave General
Corse, who 'held the fort" against a
vastly superior force. thus saving an
enormous amount OF supplies and Civ
iHS kAOOo tifC M > CHCCh III III dSGIcSS-
i've campaign. Sherman followed Hood
as far back as Gaylesville, and saw him
fairly started on his westward way,
and then left him to be taken care Of
by General Thomas. He now stripped
for tho great march, whose final OBJ
%jective was Richmond, a thousand
miles away. The sick and wounded,
the non-combatants, the machinery,
extra baggage, tents, wagons, artillery
ammunition, stores, every person and
everything not needed in the proposed
campaign. were sent back to Cnatta-
nooga, He reduced his army to a SIM
pie marching and fighting machine.
Every impeachment was sent to the rear.
Nor did the General ask the com
monest soldier to put up with worse
fare and lodging than he reserved for
himself. A tent he must have for his
maps and papers. but both he and
his staff slept in blankets on the
ground and fed on hard tack. Some
rations were taken in a small ago
train, but the army was expected to
live On the country. The artillery was
reduced TO sixty-tive guns, and but two
hundred rounds of ammunition were
carried for musket and gun. His army
numbered GO, 900 fighting men and the
elite Of the western army. full of that
u~ndoubting faith in their general
which the French army felt for Ma
poleon and the British fleet for Nelson.
When he ordered things to be done
which they could not understand they
merely said, "Well, Sherman cant
make a mistake; where he puts us
we're going in, and we are dead sure
to whip the rebs."
On the 18th of November, 1864, com
munication with the rear was broken,
the %foundries, machine shops and fac
tories at Rome were burned, and a
parting goodbye message was sent to
Thomas that ali was well. On the 14th
the army was concentrated ut Atlanta,
and on the 18th the movement began,
all the works at Atlanta, its mills,
depots, shops and fonndries being
burned and its defenses destroyed.
Then the great army severed from
its base, became a gigantic moving
column, with a new piece of history to
make for itself. 1t might be a great
triumphal march, it might be a
tragedy of ruin, but in either case there
was sure to be "a story in which the
human element Of interest would be
very great. What were they to do? One
thing was clear. They were going
to defy al military rules, and at a NOR
tai risk enlarge mems knowledge of
the art of war. Nothing like this of
Hinging an army of 5000 men from is
base into an unknown field OF opera
tons had ever been seen before. A
movable column is at best a perilous
undertaking, even when formed on a
small scale. Military art has generally
condemned all such movements. Sher
man had no supplies to fall back on.
Between him and the sea lay 800 miles
OF savanna, swamp and sand. A hun
bred water-courses crossed his path.
He would have roads to make, morasses
to turn, rivers to bridge. And where
was he to find food for that mighty
host? 1t is a proverb as old as war
that ''an army owe upon its belly"
''Does mamma grow upon the beach.
and in the pine woods?" asked one of
Shelman's aides-de camp.
The command of a large army tasks
the resources Of the greatest mind. 1t
is one of the highest of human achieve
ments, and by common consent the
first rank of fame is accorded to the
great generals. To move an army.
and to feed it on the march. requires
"a higher order of generalship than to
tight it. Thirty hours without supplies
would reduce the best army to a help
less mass of disorganized humanity.
Food for the men, forage for the ami
mails must not only be provided, but